Pirates of the Skies

Chapter 13

Hunt for a Killer

Hazumi floated through the trees, looking for Kazu. As he drifted by, he saw the same things but not his targets. There were trees, bushes, guards, rocks and insects. He looked up and seeing the brown structure that was the Dream Glider in the clear night sky that was some distance from him. He wondered if they were having better luck. Returning his focus back on the task at hand, he flew on, only to see more trees, bushes, guards, rocks and insects. He sighed in disappointment. In a big forest like this, Kazu could easily hide from anyone looking for him. However, Hazumi realised that he had a slight advantage as, if he found Kazu, he would not be able to see him coming. Again he searched; again he saw trees, bushes, guards, rocks and insects. What was am I suppose to do if he found him anyways? He asked himself. Any fight he had with the killer would have to be quick, in order not to attract the attention of the other people in the forest looking for Kazu. Hazumi swivelled his head left and right and was confronted by trees, bushes, dead guards, rocks and insects. He flew on wondering, maybe I should…

Wait… Hazumi thought to himself before he flew backwards. He stopped when he once again saw the dead guards. Their bodies laid strewn out at unnatural positions. One body without a head had a pool of blood beneath it.

Hazumi palmed his mouth. If he could vomit, he would have at that time. He looked around, suspecting that the killer may be nearby. Hearing a shrub shake, he turned around quick. All that came out was a harmless squirrel. Hazumi breathed a sigh of relief. He did not know why he was so jumpy. It was not like Kazu could see nor hurt him. He chose a random direction and flew off, continuing his search.

/

Shuji's glasses glinted in the dimness of the storage room. Early in the search he had hoped that the items in the storage room were organised in some kind of order, so that their search would be quicker. However, to his disappointment he found that things were just placed on the shelves randomly. He happened upon something familiar to him.

"My tool pack!" Shuji exclaimed taking the green folded bag. He opened it and was relieved to find that all items were still there: all his different sized screw drivers, wrenches, gun and metal polishes and many more tools. Shuji folded it back to its rectangular like shape with the yellow symbol of two circles (one within the other) and the kanji sign for lightning. Shuji continued looking through the shelves hoping to find his gun.

/

Branson arrived at the sight where three bodies of his men laid. He clenched his fists in anger. "You three men collect these bodies and place them in the mortuary... I'll inform their families of what happened."

"Yes sir," one of the men said.

"As for the rest of you, you all know that ever since Kazu Ita came into our midst, the bodies have been piling up!" Branson said to the men, who were listening to him attentively. "We will not lose anymore people in the Town of Git to this monster. So when you see him, do not hesitate to kill him!"

The men scattered into the forest with the goal of ending the life of Kazu Ita. There were only four men left behind, three were taking care of the bodies and the other approached Mayor Branson.

"Mayor Branson, we have reports of a ship flying above the forest. It seems to be lingering sir." The man reported. "I believe it may be a pirate sky ship, sir."

"We cannot take any chances." Branson said. "They may be friends of Kazu and the people who helped him escape. You have my permission to take it down."

"Yes sir," the soldier saluted before he made plans to take down Dream Glider.

/

Yuki was slightly on edge as she walked through the quiet and dark forest. She heard a sound behind her, causing her to whip her body around to face whoever it was. No one was there but she felt like she was being watched. In the distance, she could see Dream Glider floating above the tree line of the forest.

She turned around to find Kazu standing very close to her with a wide smile on his face. Yuki tried to jump back and scream but Kazu quickly grabbed her and muffled her scream with his palm.

"Shhh, don't scream yet," Kazu whispered as he ran his fingers through the strands of her ginger hair. He bit his lower lip before he continued, "you're going to need your voice for what I'm going to do to you."

There was a sudden burst of wind that pushed each of them away from each other. Yuki landed on her back while Kazu flipped and skilfully landed on his feet. Yuki slowly got up, shaking in anger, "Don't you dare touch me, worm!"

"What… what was that?" Kazu said, looking amused. Yuki answered his rhetorical question by thrusting her hand out and summoning a stream of wind that sent him flying backwards. Kazu landed and tumbled a bit because of the momentum. "What are you? Some kind of Caster?" He said as he got back to his feet.

"Not that someone as lowly as you needs to know, but I am a +Human." Yuki said, having regained her composure.

"A +Human huh?" Kazu said licking his lips. "I have never had one of those before."

/

Mary had produced a white glow stick that illuminated her path once she bent it. She was starting to ask herself why she was dragged into this. Why could these boys simply not find new toys to play with instead of obsessing over old ones. She sighed to herself as she continued her search.

Meanwhile, Riku searched through shelf after shelf but he could not find his sword. He stopped and quickly jumped back just as a sword blade passed inches from his face from above him. Someone had jumped from the top of a shelf in hopes of killing him! He retreated as the man rushed forward slashing at him. The man delivered a kick which sent Riku sprawling back. Riku grabbed the side of a shelf to stop himself from falling. The man changed angles and lunged forward and tried to thrust his blade into Riku's chest. Riku jumped back, saving himself. Riku tried to lunge forward for the sword while the man was still recovering from missing his target. The man slashed out, forcing Riku to abandoned his plan of disarming him and instead he jumped back to safety.

Riku looked at the man in front of him. It was obvious that he was not totally unskilled with the sword. "Riku Otake," the man said pointing his sword at him. "I knew you would skulk around this place for your sword but it's too bad you're not with your friend Kazu Ita."

Shuji and Mary heard the exchange from their positions in the warehouse. Mary switched her glow stick off and waited to see what would happen. Shuji figured out that his brother was in trouble. He would need to find his gun fast and help him fight off whoever the person who was talking to him was.

"I am Tobik of the city guard and I am placing you and your three friends under arrest!" Tobik said taking a fighting stance.

Riku looked around for a weapon and pulled one out from the shelf next to him. He pulled out a long shaft that ended in a sharp point, a spear! Riku held the spear at its base like how one would hold a katana.

"I guess your resisting arrest." Tobik said before he charged. Riku blocked while retreating. The shelves at either side of him would sometimes impede the movement of his bending spear, causing him to get slashed when he could not recover fast enough.

Riku raised the spear over his head and struck down with it. Tobik dodged by turning to the side. Tobik ran towards a shelf before he jumped up and pushed himself off it towards Riku with his sword point. The shelf he had used fell over and knocked the next shelf over which in turn did the same in a domino-like effect. Riku desperately retreated and at the last moment leaned his head back to be a few centrimeters out of the swords reach. Riku knocked his sword up by lifting his spear and with the advantage of the newly opened space, he swung the spear around. It hit Tobik in the neck but except for flinching in pain, Tobik did not go down.

Shuji began looking more furiously for his gun. He saw it sticking out and grabbed it. "I found you!" Shuji happily said. He rubbed his cheek to the rifle's metal, "I am never letting you go again!" He said with tears beginning to flow out of his eyes. Unfortunately for Shuji, the shelves falling in a cascading manner reached him and he could not react fast enough before a shelf fell on him.

Riku was momentarily distracted by the sound of his brother screaming in surprise or was it in pain? Tobik took the advantage of a distracted Riku and lunged forward with a viscous s***h. Riku was barely able to block him but he lost his spear in the process. He jumped back just as Tobik pressed a little forward. When he had forced Riku back enough he stopped.

Tobik laughed before he picked up the discarded spear. "You don't know how to use a spear, don't you? I'm no expect too but I know some of the basics, let me show you." Tobik lunged the point of the spear at Riku who nimbly side stepped got dodge the point.

"Someone help me!" Shuji screamed, trapped beneath a shelf.

"Mary!" Riku said before he was forced back by another spear thrust.

Mary understood and ran to where Shuji was. "Shuji, are you okay?" She asked looking at Shuji's face which was visible through the shelf that was on top of him.

"Well, except for being trapped, I'm alright." Shuji said. "I can't lift this thing off me."

"I'll help." Mary and Shuji tried to pull (in Mary's case) and push(in Shuji's case) the shelf off but it would only lift a little off the ground. It did not matter how much they grunted and exerted themselves but the shelf would not go further. Mary gave up with a huff.

"Maybe Riku can help us. How's he doing?" Shuji said.

Mary looked at Riku who was still desperately dodging the spear point. "He's not doing so good. Without his sword, he's useless."

"Look, I found my gun but I can't reach it." Shuji said. "If you can lift this thing off me, I can shoot Tobik."

Mary nodded, "I'll find some way." She looked around for something she could use to free Shuji so that he could help Riku, before he died.

/

Yuki thrust her hand and out came a powerful gust of white-ish grey wind. The stream of wind passed through Kazu's position but when it died down, Kazu was no longer there! Yuki spotted him in a tree and shot another powerful stream of wind at him. When the wind cleared, again, he was not there. This time he appeared directly ahead of her. Yuki realised that he was getting nearer to her with each failed attempt to hit him. She desperately sent out another shot of wind at his position only to come up with the same result.

Yuki looked up just in time to see Kazu drop down on her. Two swords with thin blades came out from his wide sleeves. Yuki directed a gust of wind below her which propelled her away by the force of the thrust. The sword was able to cut her forearm as it slashed downward while Yuki was dodging. Kazu did not waste any time and pressed his advantage. He charged and Yuki summoned a mini tornado to lift herself off the ground.

"Makasi Shredder!" Kazu's swords flashed in the moonlight in a flurry. Yuki was able to dodge a fatal slashes but she sustained a few cuts on her legs. She landed some distance away from Kazu before checking the blood clotting in the cuts. He licked the blood on his blade and smiled. "Hmm, you taste good."

Yuki clenched her teeth in anger. "Fine, it looks like I should not fight you like a worm because clearly you're not. No, you're more like a dirty rat in need of extermination!" Yuki stood at the ready before she announced her next attack, "Air Torpedo!"

/

The Dream Glider moved steadily in the sky. Kai looked down at the forest through a telescope.

"See anything yet?" Omoi asked.

"No," Kai disappointedly said, "nothing but trees, bushes, guards, rocks and insects."

"How can you see insects from this distance?" Omoi asked.

"Well… uhm… you know when…. when uhm…" Kai tried to think of a lie before there was a giant BOOM that rocked the ship. "Dad? What was that?"

Shinji looked down at his son from the raised helm of the ship. "Well, it's not a cannon whatever it is."

"Wow, you hear that!" Kai said to Omoi. "My dad is sooo smart he already knows it's not a cannon."

"Even I could tell that." Omoi thought to herself.

Kai and Omoi ran to the other side of the ship and looked down. The hull of the ship had been breached. From the breach there was a chain heading to one of three big machines on the ground manned by a group of Town of Git guards. "Uhm dad, there's a big hole on the side of the ship."

"WHAT?" Shinji said. "Who would dare harm my Dream Glider?" He ran down and stood next to Kai and Omoi to inspect the damage to the ship along with them. Shinji gritted his teeth in worry as he followed the chain that was connecting his sky ship to a heavy metallic machine on the ground. "Oh no, Fishing Tanks." Shinji said before the chain began reeling back and Dream Glider was being pulled to towards the ground.